Whiplash
by flutemarcher
Summary: I read the Alex Rider series a while back and I decided to create my own spy story. This is about a girl named Allison Allegretto. She meets a boy named Jackson Steele and he is the only one with the guts to tell her about her parents she never knew.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I've never imagined myself as an icon for girls my age; nor did I imagine myself as a teenage spy either, but life is full of surprises. I'm rambling again, I really need to control that.

My name is Allison Allegretto (Ally if you know me well enough) and I'm 16. By looking at me you'd think I'm just a normal teenage girl. I have long and naturally blonde hair that comes down to my waist, clear blue eyes that I get complimented on often, and a tanned, slim built body. Overall I'm happy with my body. I don't want to sound like one of those girls that are obsessed with themselves and spend half of their time in front of the mirror practicing on seducing a different guy every week. I'm not like that. I'm just a down to earth girl who loves movies, shopping, hanging with my friends, and soccer. I've always been the athletic type but it's always revolved around soccer. It's the one thing I can totally lose myself in and forget all the other problems in my life.

I live in Santa Cruz, California. Yes, I said California. A place of fun, sun, and anything else you'd ever want in life. I've lived with my Aunt Staci in her beach house since I was a kid. She never had any children so I was always accepted as her own. My parents were killed in a car accident when I was five.

We lived in London at the time. If there's one thing I remember about my parents, it was the crisp British accent they used to have. It wasn't a bad accent that made them sound proper and stuck up. It just had a musical ring to it. My aunt's accent gradually faded away after she spent a few years in California. But I don't think I ever fully lost mine. You wouldn't pick up on it if you met me for the first time. But when I get angry or frightened, it just slips out. Not that I'm ashamed of it. Part of me doesn't want to lose it, it's sort of the only quality of my parents that I feel I have left in me.

So as I was saying, I live in paradise. Santa Cruz is bright and sunny. White sandy beaches that are populated by sun bathers, surfers, skaters, bikers, and so much more.

I have two of the greatest friends in the world. Brooke and Chloe. We met shortly after I moved here to America. I don't think I'll ever forget that day. Our class was on the playground and it seemed everyone had a place to fit in but me. So there I sat, under a shade tree on that hot sweaty day, minding my own business. Then a scrawny long haired boy approached me. His two overweight lackeys flanking him on each side.

"Hey! It's the Brit! Come on, say something for me in that freaky voice of yours!" he said in a mocking tone which I strongly disliked. He didn't get a chance to make another insult toward me after that. It started hailing pinecones and acorns from the tree above. I wasn't sure at first. One minute I'm thinking of a smart remark to say to these pests and then all of a sudden they turn and hightail it out of there while getting pinecones pelted into their backs.

"That's right Tommy! Run and find a hole to hide in before I find one for you!" called someone from above.

When it stopped raining I looked up to see where my rescuers came from, only to see these two girls, my age, smiling down at me. They hopped down and stood in front of me.

"Hiya! I'm Chloe!" said the smaller of the two. She had on a bright tie-dyed shirt, shorts, and flip flops. She was the brightest one on the whole playground, you could pick her out easily from the group of kids. She had short hair that flipped out in all kinds of different directions. When she spoke, her movements where excited, causing her hair to bounce. You could tell she was a naturally perky girl.

"I'm Brooke," said the second girl. She had bright auburn hair that came down to the middle of her back. She was a good bit taller than Chloe. She was slim and had freckles that dotted her nose. She was wearing a purple school shirt, capris, and flip flops.

"My name's Allison, but my friends call me Ally for short," I said. Back then I still had my accent.

"Wow! Your British! That's so cool!" exclaimed Chloe. For some reason I laughed at that. No one else liked my accent around here, they all looked at me like I was an alien from another planet.

"So if your from England, what are you doing way over here in California?" asked Brooke.

"I moved here from London to live with my aunt. My parents were killed in a car accident about a month ago," I explained.

They exchanged glances. There was a moment of awkward silence then Chloe spoke, "Well hey! You can hang out with us! We don't mind!" I looked over at Brooke and saw her giving me a warm smile in agreement with Chloe.

I smiled and nodded. And that was all it took for our little trio to form. Eleven years later and we're closer than ever.

A lot has changed in those eleven years. Dozens of sleepovers where we never fell asleep, parties, dances, soccer games, and plenty of other memories. Brooke still has the red hair but her freckles disappeared as she got older. If you want my opinion, she's probably the prettiest girl in our school but she won't listen to me. She could easily fit in with the preps but she claims she wants absolutely no part of that. She found her passion when we were in sixth grade. After months of begging her mom, she was enrolled in private art classes. She's really talented. She carries her sketchpad everywhere she goes in case she sees something that may inspire her.

Chloe is still the perkiest girl I know and I don't think she's grown an inch since the day we met. Well, okay maybe a little, but at 4'11 she is the shortest girl in our grade. Her hair turned dark brown as she got older but she still keeps it cropped short and flipped out in a stylish way. Her passion is shopping and has been ever since I can remember. She plans on being a fashion designer when she gets older.

I still live with Aunt Staci in her two story beach house. I pretty much have the whole top of the house to myself. That's one thing I love about Staci, she says that teenage girls should have some freedom to be themselves. So when I was twelve Brooke, Chloe, and I put on our overalls and gave my bedroom and bathroom a total makeover. It's great to be friends with an artist! Bright colorful geometric designs cover my yellow walls. A huge canopy bed stands against the middle wall and to the left I have a large L-shaped desk where my Mac sits. In the other corner I have a fluffy futon facing my 50 inch plasma flat screen that hangs on my wall. I have a large walk in closet which has a 3-d mirror and way to many clothes (Thanks to Chloe). My room has a balcony with a beachfront view. I love waking up to the sound of the crashing waves on the pacific ocean every morning.

What can I say? I have it good! Great friends, good grades, an awesome Aunt, good looks, I love my life. I never realized how fast everything can change. In the blink of an eye, everything you know disappears right out from under you.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

My story begins on a Monday morning. I woke up to with my alarm clock buzzing in my ear. 7:00. As usual I hit the snooze and rolled over trying to enjoy my last few minutes. Rosie, my shitzu, came in a few seconds later, her tags clicking and tail wagging. She hopped onto my bed and licked my face, letting me know that I better get a move on or I was going to be late again.

"Ok Ok I'm up!" I said to her while sitting up. She looked at me for a few minutes, as if she was expecting me to fall back over into bed. I got up and went in my closet searching for an outfit, then I hopped in the shower. Allowing the hot water to wake me up. After about ten minutes I hopped out and ran a brush through my hair. I threw on a pair of jeans and a random t-shirt. Chloe would be upset with my choice of fashion but oh well.

I brushed my teeth and applied a light layer of make up. Then I walked over to my desk which I stashed my book bag under on Friday afternoon.

"You have one new message!" said the monotone computer voice coming from my computer, causing me to jump. I quickly opened it and saw it was from Brooke.

_To Ally and Chloe:_

_Just wanted to say that I'm sick today and won't be at school. Mom says it's a touch of the flu but all I know is I can barely lift my fingers to type you this message. _

_Lots of love, _

_Brooke_

Wow. Brooke never gets sick! But her mom is a doctor at the hospital so if she says it's the flu, it probably is. Oh well.

I grabbed my bag and jerked my cell out of the wall charger, jamming it into my back pocket, and headed down stairs.

Aunt Staci is a teacher at the elementary school so she leaves before I get up, they start earlier than the high school. I slammed a pop tart in the toaster oven and put out some more food for Rosie. Then I heard the telephone ring. Who the heck calls at 7:20 in the morning?! Annoyed, I trudged over to the phone by the stairs.

"Hello!" I said a bit harsher than I meant to. Silence.

"Helloooo?" I said again. Nothing. I slammed the phone down in annoyance. Probably just a wrong number.

Ding! Stupid toaster oven and its stupid bell. I grabbed the pop tart and a bottle of orange juice out of the fridge. After eating my breakfast I knew I'd better hit the road. So I said goodbye to Rosie, locked the front door, and made my way to the garage.

I got my car on my sixteenth birthday. It's small, foreign, and cute. It's a mini cooper. Laser blue metallic in color (or electric blue for you simple people) it's defiantly the perfect car for me. It's not as fancy as most of the cars in our school. Our parking lot is full of Mercedes, BMWs, Audis, Jaguars, and even a few Porsches. But I love it.

I tossed my bag in the passenger seat and backed out of the driveway. Windows down, sunroof open, and music blaring. It was a beautiful day. I made the normally 10 minute drive to school in a record 7 and wheeled into my normal parking spot beside Chloe's yellow VW bug. She had the top down and was perched on the back filing her nails while soaking up the California sunshine. She was waiting on me. When I got out she gave me her famous quirky smile and skipped to my side.

"Hey! I've been waiting on you to bail out on me too. You get Brooke's email?"

"Yep, I got it. Kind of strange being she never gets sick. Ever!"

"Ah well, she needs a day off. She hasn't skipped since like second grade," she said perching herself on the hood of my car watching the other students arrive while I opened the passenger door and dug through my bag, looking for my English homework.

"God save the Queen.." muttered Chloe with a fake British accent she learned from me. I turned to look at what she was talking about and sure enough, there she was. The queen of our high school, Katie Johnson. Every school has a prep who's extra preppy, well Katie was our girl. She's captain of the cheer squad, homecoming queen, and class president. She's currently dating the captain of the football team, Tommy Martin. The same Tommy, mind you, who Chloe and Brooke threw pinecones at because of he made fun of my accent. His long hair is now cut in a stylish athletic style and his muscles are bulging out of the tight fitting t-shirt he's wearing. He's supposedly the hottest guy in our school, but I knew personally that he was a jerk.

He walked over to her fire engine red convertible Camaro and pulled her into a passionate kiss. I heard Chloe let out a fake gag and I turned to see her shaking her head.

"Who wants to see that?!" she asked.

"Well obviously the rest of the football team because here they come," I answered rolling my eyes, watching as the team surrounded the car applauding and whistling.

I slung my messenger bag over my shoulders and hit the locks on my car remote. Chloe gracefully hopped off the hood and skipped to my side as we made our way into the school. She was wearing a bright yellow tank top and jeans. She had on a choker, several rings, and three different bracelets. Her sequined cell phone stuck out from her front pocket and she had a large purse slung over one shoulder. Her petite body looked so small surrounded by the other kids walking in near us, I had to laugh. She gave me a questioning look and then rolled her eyes.

We reached our locker, which we all three shared, grabbed our books and headed to class. We have first block History together. I reached my seat and plopped down, Chloe took her normal seat to my left. I watched her dig her iPod out of her purse and switch it to one of her favorite bands, then she took out a copy of the new Vogue magazine. I just rolled my eyes and opened my textbook to start reading the chapter I failed to read over the weekend. I can't understand how Chloe managed to keep an A in this class when she never paid attention. She claims that she simply read the chapter at night and didn't bother listening to Mr. Brinkman's monotone lectures. Apparently everyone else agreed with her theory because as I looked around I saw iPods, cell phones, novels, magazines, and kids sleeping all around me. I leaned back and prepared to face an hour and a half of pure boredom.

I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew Chloe was shaking my shoulder and calling my name. My eyes snapped open and she started laughing.

"She's alive!" Chloe joked.

"Very funny," I said stretching "how long was I out?"

"The entire class period," she answered still smiling. I looked around to see the class slowly walking out of the room and heading to the courtyard for break.

"Come on Sleeping Beauty!" she said tapping her foot impatiently. I got up and we made our way down stairs for break.

"I got a text from Brooke a second ago," she said looking at the ground, " she said that she wants all of us to meet at your house tonight."

"Odd.. Didn't she say that she was almost to weak to send us an email this morning?"

"Ally I think something's wrong with her!" she exclaimed. "She's been way too quiet lately and she doesn't return any of our calls. Now she skips school for the first time in FOREVER! I'm worried!" Her face became red from her rant and her forehead was scrunched up.

"Chloe, calm down. I agree with you but if it's something she doesn't want us to know, then we can't do anything about it. I'm sure we'll find out tonight." I said calmly. I was always the calm one in the group.

Chloe let out a huff but she let the subject drop because the bell rang for second block. "See you at lunch!" she called as we went in opposite directions of the hallway. I waved over my shoulder.

The rest of the day past in a blur. I managed to somehow stay awake in Spanish but I know I flunked the pop quiz she gave us. Lunch was pretty boring. I listened to Chloe talk about a new fashion line coming out in France next month, nodding my head unconsciously so she'd think I was actually paying attention, while eating a hamburger and some pale French fries.

I went to Geometry and then made my way to the soccer field for my last class. We didn't do much, after warm ups we ran a few laps and worked on some new stuff. Nothing major. When I got back to my car I noticed Aunt Staci had sent me a text. The grocery list. Great!

I made my way to the grocery store and bought the load of stuff on the list. After loading all of it in the trunk of my mini, I finally made my way home. It was 6:00 when I pulled into the driveway. I saw Chloe's yellow Bug and Brooke's orange Jeep parked on the street. My light was on upsairs so I knew they were waiting on me, Chloe's foot was probably tapping in annoyance. I laughed at the thought.

As I pulled the load of groceries on the counter Aunt Staci came in.

"Oh I'll get those dear, the girls are waiting upstairs," she smiled.

"Thanks," I said grabbing my bag and skipping up the stairs. When I opened my door the smell of mini corndogs and nachos hit me making my mouth water. Chloe always made herself at home when she came over. Brooke was stretched out on my futon, covered up with a blanket, flipping channels on my flat screen. She had dark circles under her eyes and an unusual slump to her body. Her hair was in a messy ponytail on top of her head. Rosie laid beside her while her Brooke's free hand rubbed her belly.

"Hey slacker," I joked to her. She gave a small smile and rolled her eyes, not looking away from the TV. Chloe was checking her myspace on my laptop at the desk. I went over and helped myself to the nachos sitting beside her. Chloe whirled the desk chair around and threw me an annoyed look, her arms crossed over her chest.

"I know I'm late but I had to do grocery shopping!" I explained. She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Ok Brooke, we're all here so talk," Chloe said as she walked over to Brooke and took away the remote and hit the power button. Obviously Brooke refused to talk to just Chloe, she waited for me to be there, too.

Brooke's emerald eyes shifted off the blank TV and went to the floor. "I wasn't sick with the flu today," she explained, "I stayed home because I was to much of a wreck to go to school today. My parents broke the news last night, they're getting a divorce."

There was an awkward silence. What could I say to her? I looked to Chloe who just sat there with wide eyes set on Brooke.

"I can't say it was a surprise," she sighed "but now I know that it's really over, my life won't be the same again. Dad's leaving for Sacremento tonight. He's going to find a house there and a new job." She looked at us for the first time. Her face had pain written all over it. I got up and went to sit beside her. Her arms wrapped around me and her head buried in my shoulder, quiet sobs shook her body. Chloe got up from the chair she was sitting in and joined me in comforting her, rubbing small circles on her back and using a soothing voice to reassure her. I'm not sure how long we sat there but when I looked out the window it was dark. Brooke got up slowly wiping her eyes and looked at her watch.

"I really need to go, Dad's getting ready to leave and I want to say goodbye."

"Want us to come with you?" I asked.

"Thanks, but this is something need to do alone. I'll see you guys at school tomorrow," and without another word she got up, gave us each a hug and walked down stairs. Chloe and I waited until we heard her jeep back out and drive down the street. Chloe let out a huge sigh.

"What do we do now?" she asked pitifully.

"Nothing," I said, "She knows we're here for her or else she wouldn't have called this meeting. She's a very mature person and she needs to handle this without us interfering."

Chloe nodded slowly. "I better get home, it's getting late. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Alright, see you then," I said. She grabbed her bag from the bed and headed for the door and then she stopped. "Oh, and Ally? Please get some sleep, you look like a ghost and I'm not waking you up in history tomorrow," she said with a slight smile.

"Thanks for caring," I laughed. She chuckled and turned to skip down the stairs, hair flying behind her.

I stacked the dishes up that were sitting on my desk and took them to the kitchen. Then, without worrying about my homework, I slipped on my t-shirt and shorts, and climbed into bed. I thought: _God I hope tomorrow will be a better day! _Boy, was I wrong.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I woke up the next morning an hour before my alarm went off. I couldn't sleep so I went ahead and got up. I headed downstairs with my pajamas still on and met Aunt Staci in the kitchen. Her strawberry blonde hair pulled up with a clip and her usual school clothes on. She was facing away from me fixing her lunch for later today, so I sat down at the bar and waited to be noticed.

Finally, she turned around. She almost dropped the bowl she was holding. She glared at me and put a hand over her heart.

"Sorry," I said, "I didn't mean to scare you."

"Oh it's fine," she said. The color that had rushed to her face was now fading back to a normal color. "You're up early. Is something wrong?"

"Brooke's dad moved out last night," I said simply. A look of realization crossed her face and then sympathy.

"Well maybe it's for the better. It's not exactly a surprise."

"That's exactly what Brooke said." I said. She continued with fixing her lunchbox.

"Ally, Brooke's parents have been fighting for a long time now. It's no secret. Sometimes people fall out of love with each other, it just happens. I think it's high time they move on with their lives," she looked at me to see if I understood. I nodded and she gave me a gentle smile. "Brooke's lucky to have friends like you and Chloe." She walked around the bar and gave me a kiss on the cheek, then headed back toward her room to finish getting ready.

I let out a sigh. I grabbed a protein bar and a bottle of orange juice and went into the living room. I flipped on the flat screen above the fireplace and sprawled out across the couch. I sat there staring blankly at the screen for a while, not really watching, just thinking. Staci came through the kitchen and grabbed the lunchbox from earlier. She had a huge bag of papers to grade on one shoulder and her laptop in another bag.

"Bye Ally, don't be late, I love you!" She said quickly before shutting the door behind her. On that note, I headed upstairs to get a shower and get ready.

About a half an hour later I was heading out the door to my get in my car. It was a beautiful day out. The sun was shining and everything had a glow about it. Maybe it would be a good day after all.

Just then, my car made a weird churning sound as I turned the key.

"Then again, maybe it won't be a good day," I mumbled to myself. I dug through my bag to find my phone. I dialed and let it ring a few times.

"Hiya!" said Chloe's soprano voice on the other line. "And what do I owe the pleasure of you calling me at this wonderful hour of the morning?"

I groaned at her perky voice. "My car won't start and I need a ride." I heard her car door slam and an engine start.

"And what does that have to do with me?" she said. I could hear the smile in her voice.


End file.
